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The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988. While the group has gone through several lineup changes, The Smashing Pumpkins consisted of Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James Iha (guitar/vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion) for most of the band's recording career.
Disavowing the punk rock roots shared by many of their alt-rock contemporaries, the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered, and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica. Frontman Billy Corgan is the group's primary songwriter-his grand musical ambitions and cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's albums and songs, which have been described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land." The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the musical mainstream with their second album, 1993's Siamese Dream. The group built their audience with extensive touring and their follow-up, 1995's double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. With approximately 18.3 million albums sold in the United States alone as of 2006, The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s. However, internal fighting, drug use, and diminishing sales hampered the band and led to a 2000 break-up. In April 2006, the band officially announced that they were reuniting and recording a new album. Returning members Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin were joined by new additions Jeff Schroeder (guitar) and Ginger Reyes (bass) in 2007 to tour behind their new release, Zeitgeist.
On June 21, 2005, the day of the release of his album TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan took out a full-page advertisement in the Chicago Tribune newspaper to announce that he planned to reunite the band. "For a year now," Corgan wrote, "I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams." While performing at various drum clinics across Europe in September 2005, Jimmy Chamberlin confirmed that a reunion tour was planned to begin the next February, with a new album possibly to follow. On February 2, 2006, MTV.com reported that Corgan and Chamberlin had signed a new management deal with Front Line Management, and Melissa Auf der Maur confirmed that the pair were currently working on an album of new material.
On April 20, 2006, the band's authorized website, www.smashingpumpkins.com, confirmed the reunion stating, "It's official. The Smashing Pumpkins are currently writing songs for their upcoming album, their first since 1999."The website later reported that the new album would be produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who produced many of Queen's albums, including A Night at the Opera. According to a MySpace blog posting by Jimmy Chamberlin on October 20, 2006, they finished work with Baker and had also enlisted help from producer Terry Date, who has worked with Deftones, Pantera, and Soundgarden.
Corgan and Chamberlin were verified as participants in the reunion, but there was question as to whether other former members of the band would participate. In April 2007, Iha and Auf der Maur separately confirmed that they were not taking part in the reunion. The Smashing Pumpkins performed live for the first time since 2000 on May 22, 2007 in Paris, France. There, the band unveiled new members Jeff Schroeder and Ginger Reyes, who took over second guitarist and bassist duties, respectively. The band's new album, Zeitgeist, is scheduled to be released July 10, 2007 on Reprise Records; "Tarantula" has been released as the album's first single. The Smashing Pumpkins are slated to perform at Al Gore's Live Earth festival three days before the record release date.
In 2001, the compilation Rotten Apples was released. The double-disc version of the album, released as a limited edition, included a B-sides/rarities collection called Judas Ø. The Greatest Hits Video Collection DVD was also released at the same time, which compiled all of the Pumpkins promo videos from Gish to Machina along with unreleased material. Vieuphoria was released on DVD in 2002, as was the soundtrack album Earphoria, previously released solely to radio stations in 1994.
Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin reunited in 2001 as members of Corgan's next project, the shortlived supergroup Zwan. Their only album, Mary Star of the Sea, was released to generally positive reviews but, after cancelling a few festival appearances, Corgan announced the demise of the band in 2003 under cloudy circumstances. During 2001, Corgan also toured as part of New Order and provided vocals on their comeback album Get Ready. In October 2004, Corgan released his first book, Blinking with Fists, a collection of poetry. In June 2005, he released a solo album, TheFutureEmbrace. It was greeted with generally mixed reviews and lackluster sales. Only one single, "Walking Shade," was released in support of the album. In addition to drumming with Zwan, Jimmy Chamberlin also formed an alternative rock/jazz fusion project band called The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. They released an album in 2005 titled Life Begins Again. Corgan provided guest vocals on the track "Lokicat." James Iha served as a guitarist in A Perfect Circle, appearing on their Thirteenth Step club tour and 2004 album, eMOTIVe. He has also been involved with other acts such as Chino Moreno's Team Sleep and Vanessa and the O's. He continues to work with his own record label as well, Scratchie Records. D'arcy Wretzky has not made any public statements or appearances nor given any interviews since leaving the band in 1999. On January 25, 2000, she was arrested after she allegedly purchased three bags of crack cocaine, but after successfully completing a court-ordered drug education program, the charges were dropped.
Corgan insisted during this period that the band would not reform, although when Zwan broke up he announced, "I think my heart was in Smashing Pumpkins.
I think it was naive of me to think that I could find something that would mean as much to me." On February 17, 2004, Corgan posted a bitter message on his personal blog calling Wretzky a "mean-spirited drug addict" and blaming Iha for the breakup of The Smashing Pumpkins.On June 3, 2004, he added that "the depth of my hurt [from Iha] is only matched with the depth of my gratitude." Iha responded to Corgan's claims in 2005, saying, "No, I didn't break up the band. The only person who could have done that is Billy."
